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Re. Much Earlier post "Needing...Firsthand Experience"

Yahoo Message Number: 11920
Might suggest that another (didn't-see-mentioned) set of considerations regarding the gas / diesel determination is performance at-altitude, and variety of fuel. We have an 06 6340 Endura gasser, and had not one problem on a nearly 12,000 mile trip from Florida to Alaska - count ourselves fortunate. However I had to learn patience with its performance at 7-8,000' (down to about 10 psi manifold-pressure, vs. 14.7 at sea level). If Banks made a "turbo-normalizer" kit for gas engines (similar to some high-performance general-aviation aircraft), it would enable the 305 hp at 8,000' just like it was at sea level (but no one makes this kit). The other thing I learned is that this engine really likes "octane," and seems to do OK on 89 (pump), but gets about 1-1 1/2 mpg less on 87, and negligibly more on 91 (hard to sort this one out - dilution in the tank, and terrain factors). And lastly, if it "likes" octane, it LOVES alcohol-free fuel - as found in Canada and Alaska. Mileage was consistently over 8 mpg with no alcohol, and as high as 11.5 (quartering tail-wind likely helped there). With the alcohol crap, it's consistently 7 and below - even at 89 octane. So doing a little public math here, if you're in the US, your fuel costs for gas would be on-par with someone getting 9-10 mpg with a diesel, but in Canada (where the price difference is reversed), you'd be much better off with the diesel (fuel-cost-wise), however you'd still be trailing the diesel up-hill at-altitude. Perhaps the biggest factor is to find a way to become comfortable with fuel costs - make the "trip" more important than the credit-card bill, help yourself feel better by using Gas-Buddy to find the cheapest fuel, take advantage of "loyalty-cards" like Flying-J / Pilot, and ignore the "envy" you feel when you get passed on a hill by 450hp Class-A pusher with a 20' enclosed trailer on the back. :-) Just a FWIW from the peanut-gallery.